Hey folks,
Did Pirates earlier today (11/6) and was heavily impressed with some changes recently (or fairly recently) made to the attraction. A few months ago a flickering light was added to the splash down cave before the pirate ship, allowing you to admire all that rockwork you never get to see. But that's only the start...
The area right before the flume has been considerably brightened, to the effect of adding a good deal of amber lighting below the skull and crossbones. This makes him much more difficult to see, and doesn't really work, but it does make the effect a bit more ghostly and hard to make out.
In the ship battle, the 'horizon' effect to the left of the ship has been turned off and a green light put on the ship's end. I actually very much like this change as it gives you a very hollow, "endless ocean" feeling. The blue horizon, plus the lighthouses, are still on to the right of the ship. The cannons and splashes now shoot up a huge amount of water at you, and, inexplicably, a small barrell atop a rock above the water line now rests halfway between the boat track and the fortress.
Animatronics everywhere are looking very good. The flutist by the well moves very swiftly and naturally now, a significant improvement (just ride Mansion and check out the graveyard band flutist to see how stiff his original motions were). The pirate band, drunken pair in the burning town, and "muddy leg" pirate were moving much faster and more fluidly than last I rode, swaying around quite a bit more than usual.
Finally, a light has been turned on in the treasury raid that I've never seen on before in my life... off in the far corner, almost behind the boats, beyond the stockades and the piles of munitions, is a whole armory full of helmets, guns, and chestplates. There's now a lantern just over there off to the side, and you can admire some more Disney details you'd probably never seen before at last.
After all the improvements to Splash, Mansion and now Pirates, I'm not sure what else to expect. =)
Did Pirates earlier today (11/6) and was heavily impressed with some changes recently (or fairly recently) made to the attraction. A few months ago a flickering light was added to the splash down cave before the pirate ship, allowing you to admire all that rockwork you never get to see. But that's only the start...
The area right before the flume has been considerably brightened, to the effect of adding a good deal of amber lighting below the skull and crossbones. This makes him much more difficult to see, and doesn't really work, but it does make the effect a bit more ghostly and hard to make out.
In the ship battle, the 'horizon' effect to the left of the ship has been turned off and a green light put on the ship's end. I actually very much like this change as it gives you a very hollow, "endless ocean" feeling. The blue horizon, plus the lighthouses, are still on to the right of the ship. The cannons and splashes now shoot up a huge amount of water at you, and, inexplicably, a small barrell atop a rock above the water line now rests halfway between the boat track and the fortress.
Animatronics everywhere are looking very good. The flutist by the well moves very swiftly and naturally now, a significant improvement (just ride Mansion and check out the graveyard band flutist to see how stiff his original motions were). The pirate band, drunken pair in the burning town, and "muddy leg" pirate were moving much faster and more fluidly than last I rode, swaying around quite a bit more than usual.
Finally, a light has been turned on in the treasury raid that I've never seen on before in my life... off in the far corner, almost behind the boats, beyond the stockades and the piles of munitions, is a whole armory full of helmets, guns, and chestplates. There's now a lantern just over there off to the side, and you can admire some more Disney details you'd probably never seen before at last.
After all the improvements to Splash, Mansion and now Pirates, I'm not sure what else to expect. =)
